Aspen to Nepal

Starting Something That Matters

2012-09-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

2 years ago I quit everything: A relationship, a lease, a great company I had started... everything. I quit what I knew and I set off on a Global Volunteering Adventure.

I left a city, friends, family and girl that I loved. At first, I wasn't even completely sure why, I just knew I had to. Finally, it dawned on me why I felt the need to leave:

I left so that I could start something new... something that mattered. Something that would be worth telling my grand kids about.

And now, 2 years later, 'something' has come to life. It's called MovingWorlds and it's a movement to accelerate social innovation and impact around the world. It's not a company, its a socially driven organization that has one measure of success: Leaving the world better than when we found it. Our work is just beginning as we pick up momentum as we approach launch, and I'd be grateful for any support you can provide... even small things like:

Taking our SHORT SURVEY to understand if you want to travel and volunteer internationally
Liking us on Facebook
Reading and commenting on the MovingWorlds Blog
Following us on Twitter
Coming to the Social Innovation Fast Pitch in Seattle to cheer us on

And if you have 71 seconds, check out this video highlighting what MovingWorlds is all about...

11 Easy Tips to be Insanely Happy

2012-08-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

Money can't buy happiness.

But it turn out that a few simple behavior and attitude changes can.

Eric Barker just wrote a great post titled 'Here are the things that are proven to make your happier". I highly recommend reading his full post on happiness, but here are the 11 tips that he explains in greater detail:

Practice Gratitude | Every day, write down things you are grateful for
Do What You Are Good At | Use your signature strengths as much as possible. This is why starving artists are happier in their jobs.
Spend As Much Time As Possible With People You Like | Share the highlights of your day with your friends, and do it as much as possible. You WILL regret not doing so
Many Things Are Better Than Money | Wanting money leads to unhappiness. The happiest people make 50-75k per year.
Give | 'Tis better to give than to receive. Volunteering turns out to be the most selfless way to be selfish.
Savor Time and Reality | Focusing on enjoying the limited time we have on this earth is happy practice.
Strive | Set ambitious goals and strive. You are happier when you are busy and mastering skills increases long term happiness.
Be Optimistic | Yup, keep dreaming. "Thinking happy thoughts, giving hugs and smiling sound like unscientific hippie silliness but they all work"
Sleep and Eat | Being tired and hungry makes you unhappier.
Frequency Beats Intensity | Stop thinking about how to reduce bad, and instead, increase the good. Specifically focus on little daily pieces. Happiest people have little joys everyday. That big vacation or promotion won't make you happy. Seeing friends everyday will.
Avoid Life's Most Common Regrets | And don't worry about potential regret at all, it's way worse than you think. Here are the most common regrets:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

More more details on each point, I highly recommend you read the full post here.

And quick - what is one thing you can do today to start being happier? I'd love to hear about it in a comment below...

A Wedding, Funeral, Anniversary, Homecoming, Birthday, and Reunion

2012-08-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

I think it was the busiest 9 days of my life, at least from a personal standpoint:

My parent's celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary
A dear and close friend got married
My brother returned home to visit whom I haven't seen in over a year as he lives in Indonesia
My girlfriend's mother celebrated her birthday
It was our ten year reunion for high school
And a close family friend - an uncle figure in my life - passed away from cancer

That's a lot for just over 1 week, and the swing of emotions were indescribable, and impossible to put down on paper. But somewhere a midst the hustle and bustle, I found some clarity in a single important life lesson that I feel is worth sharing:

The only thing you have now are memories of the past, and people to create memories with in the future.

I prefer focusing on the latter.

Or as one of my mentors and dear friends always says "we must give up hope for a better past".

Now Is THE Time

2012-08-21T16:34:00.000-07:00

You know what one of the most popular excuses is for NOT doing something?

Age.

It seems that almost everybody is "too old" or "too young". Sometimes this excuse wears ugly disguises... Half the people can't get the job they want because they "don't have enough experience" and the other half are either "too experienced" or "too close to retirement to bother to think about it".

Age is not an excuse, it's a gift.

Birthdays are not a celebration or a curse, they are reminders that you should be doing exactly what you've always wanted to do.

It's time to find a new excuse other than age and experience. And when you can't it, it means that there's nothing left to do but to do it. Now.

Success is Measured by What is Accomplished After You Leave

2012-07-25T20:21:00.001-07:00

This weekend, I rolled off my volunteer position as Great West Leadership Team Chair and National Relay Advisory Team Member for the American Cancer Society. It was bittersweet leaving a team that I cared so deeply about, but I was thrilled to see new leaders rise to occasion.

After transitioning to the new co-chair of this team, I had the opportunity to watch part of its first meeting with me no longer at the helm. I was immediately inspired by the new energy that a new face and personality brought to the team - but that is a different lesson for a different time.

What struck me the most was a thought I had while quitely exiting the room during a passionate discussion about "dreaming big" and "making BIG ideas happen". The wall was covered with oversized, bright colored post-it notes on which team members shared their best ideas for accelerating the fight against cancer. Big, aduacious, ridiculous ideas plastered the wall. Ideas that 2 years ago would have been laughed out of the room. Now, staff and volunteers were asking for more.

I realized that my biggest accomplishment was not in coming up with and deliverying BIG ideas, but in creating a foundation for other people to thrive on top of. Sir Isaac Newton said that "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".

I don't have the brains to be Newton, but striving to be a giant seems like a good enough challenge - and accomplishment. For most things in life, we must stop looking at our personal accomplishments as our only measure of success, and instead consider that the most exciting thing can - and should - happen after we leave. Only than do we know that we are contributing to a world that will keep getting better and better. After all, isn't that they type of world we want our kids to live in?

A Toast to Reflecting

2012-05-31T19:21:00.003-07:00

In my first update after Memorial Day, I released a post urging us all to think about the things we take for granted.

In response, I was forwarded this video, and I hope you like it as much as I do... It's called "In Full Uniform", it's release was serendipitously timed with my last post, so I'm calling it "A Toast to Reflecting"

Think About What Got You This

2012-05-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

Whatever "this" is, think about all the things that it took to make "this" real.

In Hawaii, some of the most stunning views are from old military pillboxes, a powerful reminder that we have access to incredible things only because our military needed safe, protected places on the highest lookouts with the most unobstructed views. When visiting these spaces, it's easy to think back to the 1940's and imagine a group of young 20-somethings in full army gear spending hour-after-hour in these pillboxes wondering if another attack is around the corner.

But its even easier to overlook history entirely and never pay homage to the heroes that protected (and still protect) us.

On a much larger scale, this makes me think about America. Think about all the things that made (and make) America, America.

+ Immigrants who labored
+ Native Americans who were relocated
+ Brave men and women of our military
+ Protesters who fought for equality
+ Politicians who developed a constitution that is still the model of the free world
+ Leaders of organizations to help those that the government couldn't
+ Millions of citizens that paid taxes
+ Adults in jobs making our economy tick
+ Teachers building a brighter next generation
+ Lawyers fighting injustices
+ Firemen that serve the public
+ Police forces that protect it
+ Doctors that cure it
+ Researchers
+ Capitalists
+ Volunteers...

The list goes on and on and on... Imperfect as it might be, America was built on the shoulders of people who sacrificed everything - including themselves - for us to have "this".

But beyond America, we have many "this's" in our lives. We have ourselves, created by the chance meeting of two people we lovingly call our parents. We have best friends, united by a random turn of events we can hardly trace. We have airplanes and cell phones that, even if we really think about it, we probably can't begin to explain how they work - they just do.

The best part is, you don't need to explain "this".

But maybe every once and a while, it will do us all to good to reflect on what it took for us to have "this".

You Can Always Make Wrong Things Right

2012-05-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is a short story about how a delayed flight serendipitously put me precisely where I needed to be to save an old lady’s life, and in doing so, changed mine.

On a recent trip to New York, I woke up to find that my afternoon flight home was delayed. I tried to make the most of the experience, and almost made too much of it, missing a train and then getting off at the wrong terminal at Newark International Airport. Just as I was beginning to stress on making my delayed flight, I received notification that the flight was further delayed. I slowed down my pace, and instead of berating myself for my inability to follow signs, I took the opportunity to channel my negative energy into bad thoughts towards the seemingly constantly delayed airline industry.

Walking casually through the terminal, I heard some gasps as people turned to watch an old, overweight, and VERY frail lady about to topple backwards down an escalator. Her bag was on the ground tripping her feet while her hands clutched to the moving rail as she slowly started to fall over backward on the climbing escalator. I’m not sure what inspired my action, but I sprinted to the escalator, bounded up the stairs, and grabbed on to both railings right just as she lost her grip and fell backwards… safely into my body. I thanked my lucky stars that climbing has given me a strong grip, as it took all I had to keep her from sending us both down the metal steps.

We finished riding the escalator to the top, her body still collapsed against mine, and I was able to help her safely stand up and step off the escalator. She had tears in her eyes and couldn’t stop saying thank you. She had just missed her flight back home to Florida and was so frustrated from the experience that she wasn’t paying attention as she got on the escalator. She had stumbled, dropped her bag, got her feet caught on the handle, and was free-falling backward right when I arrived. We stood talking for 5 minutes at the top of that escalator until she was settled and smiling, and then parted ways with a hug.
I am sitting at the gate now, waiting for a flight that keeps getting delayed. People around me are visibly frustrated and anxious, but I’m relishing the moment. In the foreground I see planes taking off, whisking people to places that not long ago people could only reach in their dreams. In the distance, One World Trade Tower, still under construction, stands again as the tallest building in the NYC skyline. Out of all the things to get frustrated about, a delayed flight seems so trivial. Besides the obvious fact that flying is a miracle that we should be blessed to experience just once in our lives, waiting for an airplane can actually be a golden opportunity.
No matter how bad things seem, the fact that you’re in the ~.1% of the world’s population that has the means to read this post and have access to air travel implies that you are incredibly fortunate. Now, I’m not saying “don’t get frustrated”. Inevitably, whenever you tell yourself to not do something (like don’t eat dessert) you end up doing more if it. I am preaching something much simpler… anytime that you have to wait for something, think of one thing you CAN DO to reflect on and express your gratitude for. Then do that. Immediately.

Perhaps the down-time of waiting for a flight can be used to slow down, call a friend, or just close your eyes, relax, and reflect on all the things in your life you have to be grateful for.

Inevitably, our lives are a sequence of events that we can barely control, and never predict. Things will continue to happen as they will, some good, some bad. The only certainty beyond uncertainty is that you alone can make wrong things right.

I’m not sure what would have happened to this sweet lady if she toppled backwards down an escalator, and I’d rather not think about it. What I can’t stop thinking about is the turn of random, disconnected events that put me in exactly the right spot at the right time.

Real Beauty Lies Beyond the Boundary

2012-03-29T04:29:00.001-07:00

One year ago, I left Aspen on my Global Volunteering Adventure and worked my way around the world supporting world-changing organizations. I learned more I ever imagined, developed deep friendships, and built new connections that will forever change the course of my life.

A lot happens when you step beyond the boundaries that society sets forth, and that you inadvertently establish for yourself:

You reach unmatched highs, as well as lows; you soar and crash...
You more fully appreciate what you have (and what you used to have)...
You get in better touch with yourself, and you learn to find better balance
Most importantly, you realize the power of stepping beyond what you previously thought possible.

As I reflect on this past year, I quickly realize that no words will do it justice. How do you quantify the value of a friendship? Of a new business venture? Of a life change experience?

You don't. You don't even try.

The Aspen to Nepal adventure is just the beginning. While physically I have made it from Aspen to Nepal and back to Aspen, the real adventure is still to come. The purpose of this blog is to document my attempt to leave the world cleaner then when I found it. And while the exact method to accomplish that is still in the air, one thing is clear...

Only be stepping beyond the boundary will I be able to find the right path.

Check out my short video highlight of my global volunteering adventure

Beautiful People Don't Happen

2012-03-12T20:46:00.001-07:00

Beautiful people aren't born, they're made.

More accurately, they tirelessly make and re-make themselves.

Beautiful people share some common, priceless traits like being:

Compassionate
Empathic
Loving
Tenacious
Caring
Sensitive
Selfless

But most importantly, they never stop improving, growing, and learning.

They might fail, trip, and fall, but they get back up and get better.

Beauty is not a gift. It's an earned quality terribly difficult to achieve - which is exactly why it is worth so much, and is exactly why it is worth striving for.

Good luck being beautiful... or rather... safe journey!

The Stupidest Question: What is the Cost?

2012-03-08T07:39:00.002-08:00

My father always used to say "If you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer."

As it turn out, the question "what is the cost of protecting and saving our oceans" turns out to be one of the stupidest questions of them all. The ocean is one the Earth's greatest treasures:

It is the single largest protein source
It creates half of the worlds oxygen
It regulates weather patterns
It provides water (and life) for this entire planet

And yet we are over-fishing, over-polluting, littering, and in many other ways pillaging this priceless and irreplaceable treasure - just watch this compelling video about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - an island of plastic in the middle of the ocean twice the size of Texas. Aside from the obvious issues of having 7 million tons of plastic floating in the ocean, the plastic is also getting pulverized into small, non-degradable particles being ingested by the smallest members of our food chain. These toxic particles then slowly work their way up the ladder...

This week at the Aspen Institutes's Great Decision Series, when discussing the (deteriorating) heath of our Ocean's, one of the experts was discussing the "cost" if we do not take better care of the oceans. An answer from another expert was surprisingly and poignant:

"This has nothing to do with cost. The fact is, that if the problem is fixed, there is a HUGE net benefit."

We must stop thinking about problems and challenges, and instead focus on the benefits of overcoming these hurdles. As it is with the ocean, it is with our lives.

Interdependence Not Dependence

2012-03-06T22:51:00.000-08:00

Last week at the Aspen Institutes's Great Decision Series event, we discussed Energy Geopolitics. Questions and discussion ranged on specific, challenging topics:

How much should the US invest in renewable energy, and how soon?
What should the US do about other countries (Iran and Russia) infringing on other's access to fossil fuels?
How can the US protect its access to enough (and "cheap") energy resources?
What countries threaten our access to fossil fuels - economically, forcefully, socially, and politically?

I can't help but think that these are actually the wrong questions.

If I can travel from Aspen to Nepal, if I can eat food from China and Africa, and if I can Facebook message my friends in Indonesia and Argentina, why would I even consider any isolationist or protectionist nationalistic stance that might hinder the progress of other countries, and my brothers and sisters living there?

Every country and every person is being affected by the energy crisis: Either energy is too expensive, and/or the output of energy is damaging our planet. Any country-centric effort is short-sighted and is not a solution to the real problem.

The old adage as never been more true, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer". Only by intertwining our ability to access and use energy, while greening our planet, can we truly overcome the energy crisis. While I might not be an energy expert, Jeremy Rifkin is. His notion of the Third Industrial Revolution is progressive and is more about ongoing peace and cooperation then it is about energy security.

As it is with business, relationships, and politics, interdependence can save us, independence cannot.

Less is More

2012-03-01T22:23:00.004-08:00

In a great article on the MIT Press, Tim Kasser shows why, when it comes to happiness, less means more happiness, and it also means a better planet. It's well worth watching this 5 minute video:

Here is a brief summary of Tim's Research, copied from MIT Press:

The High Price of MaterialismTim Kasser

In The High Price of Materialism, Tim Kasser offers a scientific explanation of how our contemporary culture of consumerism and materialism affects our everyday happiness and psychological health. Other writers have shown that once we have sufficient food, shelter, and clothing, further material gains do little to improve our well-being. Kasser goes beyond these findings to investigate how people's materialistic desires relate to their well-being. He shows that people whose values center on the accumulation of wealth or material possessions face a greater risk of unhappiness, including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and problems with intimacy—regardless of age, income, or culture.

Drawing on a decade's worth of empirical data, Kasser examines what happens when we organize our lives around materialistic pursuits. He looks at the effects on our internal experience and interpersonal relationships, as well as on our communities and the world at large. He shows that materialistic values actually undermine our well-being, as they perpetuate feelings of insecurity, weaken the ties that bind us, and make us feel less free. Kasser not only defines the problem but proposes ways we can change ourselves, our families, and society to become less materialistic.

5 Ways to Create Your Own Serendipity

2012-02-26T15:44:00.002-08:00

Serendipity, if you are open to it, leads to innovation, progress, and lots of other great things.

Inspired by a compelling article in the Harvard Business Review, here are 5 ways to build a brighter future by creating (and harnessing) your own serendipity.

Be Creative: On the path to success, creativity usually comes just before serendipity. Like the creative gentleman in Argentina who built a house out of bottles, and is now famous (read the full story here).
Remember Where You Came From: History matters, a lot. "Innovation is as much about looking at the past as it is about anticipating the future".
Be Social: The more people you meet and talk to, the better luck you have to create serendipitous moments. Like Sir Isaac Newton said "If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".
Experience Diversity: According to John Stuart Mill "It is hardly possible to overrate the value...of placing human beings in contact with persons dissimilar to themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar...Such communication has always been, and is peculiarly in the present age, one of the primary sources of progress".
Tinker and Experiment: Edison would not be famous if he never tried. He failed much more than he succeeded, and learned more from failures then successes. In fact, the more you try and fail, the more you learn. Here are some more tips to fail better so that you can succeed faster.

Want to read more? There is another great article on Serendipity in Forbes titled "Serendipitous Innovation"

At the end of the day, you are responsible for your future. And if there is serendipity along the way, it will only be because you created it.

How did you create your most serendipitous moments?

Rise to the Occasion

2012-02-23T20:17:00.004-08:00

Cerro Torre in Argentina

Last night I attended a riveting talk from 21 year old Hayden Kennedy, a professional climber from Aspen. He shared pictures and stories from climbing K6, a notorious 7,000 meter peak in Pakistan, as well as his ascent of Cerro Torre in Argentina. More newsworthy than his ascent of Cerro Torre, was that he and his partner did it without following the disputed mechanically fixed route that has been in place since the 1970's, a route that consists of over 400 metal pins injected into the wall to make it easily scalable.

The pin-installing compressor still on Cerro Torre

In the climbing community, installing metal pins is often considered "rape and desecration", as it figuratively brings down the majestic mountains to our mortal levels, and strips nature it of its dignity. In addition, the compressor used to install the pins still litters the mountain (picture on the left). But the story takes an interesting twist when Hayden and his partner started removing these pins on the way down. When finished, they had removed over 120 pins, making the route only accessible by climbers willing to climb the actual mountain, not man-made holds. You can read the full story in this great article from The Guardian.

The parting message from Hayden was this:

Rise to the occasion, don't bring it down to you... otherwise, you'll never truly know what you're capable of achieving.

5 Tips to Make Things Happen

2012-02-19T19:18:00.000-08:00

Charlie Kindel recently wrote a great blog about using The 5 P's to Achieve Focus.

Framed as a series of 5 questions, the 5 P's are an incredibly useful team building exercise to get everyone on the same page. So get your team together, grab some blank pieces of paper, answer each question, and then share your responses to improve your ability to make things happen.

Purpose: Why are you committed to making it happen?
Principles: What are our guiding rules, ethics, and morals that inspire and guide us?
Priorities: If we can only make one thing happen, what is it?
Plan: What does success look like, how are we going to get there, and in what time frame?
People: Who is responsible for what, by when?

Like this topic? You should read this other post on how to inspire action.

The Power Of Real Things

2012-02-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

As I wrote about last week, I am participating in an incredible program at the Aspen Institute called the Great Decision Series.

This week, we discussed the ethics and values behind cybersecurity. Not just domestically, but also abroad.

What is our role in protecing individual's privacy on the internet?

What is our role in opening up information on the internet to countries that severely restrict - and sometimes shut-down - access?

Who is responsible or policing the internet - people, private enterprises, governments, or a new global body?

Regardless of your view on things, one thing about the internet remains true - it's value has nothing to do with the amazing infrastructure that keeps it open, instead the value lies with the real things the internet gives you access to. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube allowed the rest of the word to see and hear about the reality of the Egyptian uprising directly from the people. Actual information is used to fuel progress in the most poverty-stricken nations. Real money is able to seamlessly flow and empower emerging, socially responsible entrepreneurs and provide education.

Sure, more and more time is spent on computers and mobile devices, but maybe this isn't as alarming as it seems. After all, virtual as it might be, it is connecting to us to real things on the other end - if we let it.

Recognize the Value of Divergent Thought

2012-02-11T20:53:00.000-08:00

By definition, opinions are never wrong, but they're not always welcome.

I'm participating in the Aspen Institute Great Decision Series on Global Leadership. It's a phenomenal program that fosters values based discussions and ethical debates. More often than not, participants share divergent thoughts that are tough to stomach.

As hard as they can be listen to, something magical happens when you can listen to and even try and understand the most offensive of opinions. Even if you disagree wholeheartedly with others, if you take the time to try and understand their viewpoint and see the world through their eyes, 3 things happen:

Empathic bonds are created across political, social, cultural, and economic boundaries
Horizons are broadened and expanded
Innovation is spurred and accelerated

I'm actually quite confident that much more happens when you put yourself in others shoes. But in order to realize even the first benefit, you must first place yourself in situations where you force yourself to recognize it. Where can you find these situations?

Volunteer and find ways to use your skills to meet more people from all walks of life using VolunteerMatch or MovingWorlds
Find different groups in your community that focus on pretty much anything using Meetup
Learn new things and teach new things using Skillshare

Simple Thoughts About Health: Care For Your Mind, Body and Spirit

2012-01-23T20:49:00.000-08:00

"Help Yourself Before Helping Others"

To this day, this simple piece of wisdom stands as some of the best advise I have ever received. As hard as I work to help others, build a profitable social enterprise, and spend time with friends and family, I also focus time every day to care for me, holistically. Here are some things that I do daily to improve my well-being and health:

Improve mindfulness
Take care of body
Balance and nurture spirit

IMPROVE MINDFULNESS

Stereotypes aside, mindfulness training is proven to reduce stress, lower heart pressure, and extend quality of life years. Meditation might be hard, but I think having to cope with a heart attack is worse. I'm confident it's worth it. Find a buddy to keep each other accountable. Even 5 minutes a day will help you out.

For tips and advice, I trust the amazing nonprofit, Mind Fitness Training Institute on what to do, and how to do it. For a full write-up, check out this great article from Men's Journal. Here are my personal favorite daily activities:

REDUCE TENSION, RELIEVE STRESS | Sit straight in a chair and find tension in your jaw, neck, and back. Close your eyes, apply pressure / massage each spot for 30 seconds, and breathe deeply, envisioning all tension flowing out of your body. Once you have hit your tension areas, focus your attention on any source of ambient noise, then alternate your attention to your contact point with the chair. Keep alternating your attention back and forth between noise and contact point very slowly on every deep breath. Everybody can afford to do this for 5 minutes.
INDUCE SLEEP | In bed, lay on your back and begin deep belly breathing. Wiggle and flex your toes. Focus on the sensations in your feet. Pause and continue to observe any feeling in your feet. Continue this pattern of flexing and resting sequentially throughout your body: ankles, knees, hips, fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, jaw, and eye sockets. 5 to 10 minutes of this and you'll be asleep in no time.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY

Your body is a temple.

But as it turns out, the simplest way to care for your "temple" is also the hardest. Don't worry, everybody struggles to balance working out and eating healthy food. But keep working at it, reading about it, and talking about, and you'll develop healthy habits after all.

Note: Before starting, first find a "health partner" or use technology to help you out. Here are my tips for a healthy body:

EAT SMART | I don't believe in diets or nutritional regimes. My eating is inspired by Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and loosely follows 3 rules:

Eat real food. Food that you recognize an can pronounce. I use the "great grandmother test" - if your great grandmother wouldn't recognize it, don't eat it. And if the ingredient list is over 5, be very wary. High fructose corn syrup is not food. Neither is soy powder. Here are Pollan's top 8 tips.
Eat less of it. No matter the food type, eat less of it. Period.
Eat mostly vegetables. Preferably plants, double-preferably leafy green vegetables. The more bitter, the higher in antioxidants. Cooking in butter or oil negates all benefits. If you must have a protein with your meal, keep it as a side portion. Make sure to have a diverse, colorful diet of fresh produce.

EXERCISE REGULARLY AND HAPPILY | No matter how good I feel after I exercise, its always hard to motivate myself to do it again the next day, and I know you're the same way. I'm the opposite of obsessive-compulsive, so I do better not sticking to a regime. Instead, I mix it up to take care of all body parts, and I have fun in the process. Here is where I focus my workouts:

My Heart and Lungs. Regular cardiovascular exercise is the single most important workout thing you can do. 30 minute a day, at least 5 times a week. And when I'm not working out, I try to maintain healthy breathing techniques.
My Muscles. I do something to strengthen my muscles at least once a week. Amount of weight doesn't matter, but getting them a little sore does.
My Alignment. From improving posture while sitting at the computer to doing yoga to keep myself loose and balanced, this is essential for me to feel healthy.

BALANCE AND NURTURE YOUR SPIRIT

Some people pray, some people go to church, some people use yoga. I spend time in the outdoors. Find what works for you. How will you know if you found it? I use the "You Know It" test. If you know you found it, then you have. If you're not sure, you haven't.

Either way, explore new ways to get in touch with your spirituality. Regardless of your approach, I assure you that a few main tactics will help you develop it:

Get in touch with nature by spending time in nature
Help others, and treat them the way you would like to be treated
Smile and laugh with good company
Exert yourself physically, and overcome challenges

No matter the rules you set forth to create a healthier you, remember the golden rule to overrule them all: Rule #1 is to Break the Rules Once in a While

First Rule: Break the Rules Once in a While

2012-01-19T14:33:00.000-08:00

Oscar Wilde once said "Everything in moderation, including moderation." It's good advice for you, no matter who you are and what you are trying to accomplish. Any rules about diets, business, personal growth and life should be broken once in a while.

The best business leaders break rules consistently. Here is a fun list of 25 business gurus who made their mark by not heeding conventional wisdom.

Inventors follow the same path of rule-breaking. Thomas Edison famously said that "...there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something." And Marilyn Monroe shared her similar conviction when she proudly stated that "If I'd observed all of the rules, I'd never have got anywhere." In his FANTASTIC book In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan outlines some simple rules about eating healthy. The last rule to trump them all? "Break the Rules Once in A While."

Imagination and creativity will do way more for you than following rules and guidelines - but even that only applies in moderation.

Real Heroes Shine The Day After Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

2012-01-16T17:48:00.000-08:00

One of the most inspiring days for me is the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I am inspired by this day because I think it is what MLK wanted:

Not a single celebration, but an ongoing commitment of action to make the world a better place.

I also wrote a blog post on the HelpingHelp blog about how Real Leaders Inspire Ongoing Action. Celebrating is great, and committing a day to community service is notable. But real impact takes weeks, months, and sometimes years to create. It is the long and arduous days after the MLK celebration that are the most important for leaders of the next generation.

The day after MLK day is where true leaders shine. And they continue to shine for the weeks and months in between celebrations.

Right now, the world doesn't need celebrators. It needs leaders, innovators, and motivators. A "Day On" once a year won't cut it.

The question on January 17, 2012 should not be "What did you do on MLK day", it should be "What are you going to keep doing to make the world a better place?"

You have skills that can inspire the masses, move mountains, and change the world - use those everyday to truly live MLK's dream - and yours.

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

What are you doing the day after MLK day?

3 Simple Thoughts on Pursuing Passion

2012-01-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

This year, pursue your passion more than ever before.

I write about passion a lot since it is one of the most powerful intrinsic motivators. As it turns out, finding and pursuing your passion changes everything (affiliate link). It changes you, and it changes the people around you.

More than any other time of the year, with resolutions are in exciting early execution stages and Martin Luther King Day approaches, the topic of passion is paramount... or rather, the topic of finding and pursuing your passion is paramount.

Yes, finding and pursuing your passion will make you a happier and more fulfilled person. But that is not why I am writing about it again. You see, passion changes the people around you. It inspires, motivates and empowers your family, friends and co-workers. Like smiles, it brightens days and spreads hope.

So this year, take extra steps to Populate Your Passion, and Fuel the Persistent Pursuit of it. Inspired by some great articles on this topic, I leave you with 3 simple thoughts to successfully pursue your passion:

Surround Yourself With Passionate People | Just like fit people have fit friends, the most passionate people have super passionate friends. Find new ones if you need.
Write and Consistently Reflect On Your Passion | Make public (at least to yourself) what you are passionate about. Put it in a common place so that you see it all the time. I recommend finding a picture to symbolize it (or draw your own, framing it, and putting it right in front of a mirror you look at everyday, like your bathroom mirror.
Find and Talk with Passion 'Coaches'| Talk openly to people about your passion. Preferably 3: a family member, a co-worker/peer/mentor, and a friend. Go to coffee or tea once a month and talk about it. Talk about why your are passionate about it, how you are pursuing it, and what you are afraid of.

The worlds needs you to be passionate.

3 Tips to Live With More Meaning

2012-01-03T17:53:00.000-08:00

One of the best pieces of advice I received as a leader is that you have to take care of yourself before taking care of others. To help you take care of yourself, here are 3 amazing tips to help you live meanginfully well:

Cultivate your better self | Find balance in body, soul and mind. Learn more, discuss more, experience more. Get better acquainted with friends, family, nature, adversaries and mentors. Read.

Create | Be ambitious and "dream laughably big". Architect something for the future that will make the world a better place.

Forgive and fail | Give up all hope for a better past and focus on the future. Try as hard as you can. And then try again.

Want more information? Read the full article at the Harvard Business Review, "Mastering the Art of Living Meaningfully Well" by Umair Haque.

Hope For a Hopeless World

2011-12-28T18:43:00.000-08:00

It's 10 p.m. and I'm the bus into downtown Aspen. A young man, just in from the airport, is struggling to bring two heavy bags on board. I jump up, grab his bags, and welcome him to Aspen with a handshake. He's in to work for the season and has no idea where he is going. The bus driver and I get him settled, I help him disembark at his proper stop, and then I continue to the last stop.

I'm the last passenger getting off the bus when the driver stops me with his arm. He extends his hand in a shakes my hand, and says "It is random acts of kindness like you just did that gives hope to a hopeless world." Maybe those words were a little strong, but I dwelled on the meaning...

In the middle of the night it dawned on me why acts of kindness are so important. It actually has nothing to with the act of kindness, and everything to do with the empathy that is extended through the act. It is a connection that creates unity between two strangers in an otherwise divisive world.

What Was Your Act of Kindness Today?

Look Back Before Moving Forward

2011-12-24T08:40:00.001-08:00

At the end of every year, I dedicate a day to looking back. I think about a lot of things, and I use Who, What, Where, When, Why, How as a framework...

Who slowed me down
Who helped me

What I set out to do
What I did

When I was struggling
When I was happiest

Where I tripped
Where I soared

Why I failed
Why I succeeded

How I lost motivation
How I inspired, motivated, and empowered others and myself

I look within myself to find balance, and I look outside to find knowledge. I listen and learn from experts in all fields, knowing the diversity of thoughts and opinions enriches mind and body. I reflect on the news and trends - good and bad - and think about how I can use newly acquired knowledge to be successful next year.

2011 was an amazing year. 2012 will be even better.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

-Steve Jobs 1955-2011

How do you end your year so that next year is even better?